I honestly feel like it just comes down to the riptide, and by extension the riptide wing being too good against your average opponent. Or more specifically, too cost efficient. They're just not that great against the super competitive lists that tend to make it far in tournaments. Riptides could be base 250pts and people would still get them.

Any other units that might be considered 'too strong', like broadsides, MLs, etc. Are compensated for by other obvious tau weaknesses.

I have run into this quite a bit in 7th edition. What my small group has tried doing is only playing with CAD formations and objective cards. We are trying both 1500 points and 1850 point formats with Space Marines, Tau, and Necrons.

This way you exclude a lot of the ridiculous "model-selling formations" all together like the Skyhammer Annihilation, Riptide Wing and Necron Decurion. It also encourages well-rounded lists that can secure objectives and are not "Death-Star" or redundancy oriented.

We are all meeting up in March for Adepticon and hopefully this quells the "Cheese" claims and one-sided games. At the end of the day we simply want to have fun playing the game.

First off, let me say how much I admire this question being asked and the genuine good sportsmanship it displays, especially by asking after the enjoyment of BOTH players.

I have seen a lot of very intelligent and insightful posts regarding rules, composition, tactics, and unit efficiency that I am sure will be immensely helpful, but that have also caused me a slight measure of trepidation as a gamer who is far more casual than competitive.

I will probably not optimise my lists, preferring to field what feels"right" as an army. I also tend to shy away from named characters in smaller games (below 2.5k points) as it seems wrong to have galactically renowned individuals involved in every minor engagement.

So, enjoyment will always trump competitiveness for me, and that is why I found this thread so encouraging. However, a simple "How do I play for fun instead of playing to win?" thread could have done that. What I find truly admirable about this topic is that it seeks to make the game an enjoyable experience for one's opponent too, something I believe to be indispensable to the ethos of the hobby.

Yes, you are engaging in a strategic wargame, and a struggle for victory is certainly part of the fun, but one should remember that the person across the table from you is a fellow hobbyist and enthusiast, not an actual enemy to be defeated at all costs.

Striving for victory should serve to facilitate the players enjoyment by providing them with an engaging challenge. After all, this is a game, and enjoyment is the primary aim of games. once the struggle for victory becomes unenjoyable, it is no longer serving it's purpose.

Now obviously the level of challenge that someone finds enjoyable will be different for every player, and some will not be satisfied unless you force them to use every last ounce of brain power and strategy available (they're probably the sort of people who install new games and instantly select the "insanity" difficulty option) but in every case you should be able to walk away from the table and still be friends with your opponent, and with both of you still enjoying the hobby.

I very much agree with Harkus 959. The best games I've ever played have always been ones where the battle ebbs and flows from one turn to the next and neither player has the upper hand, but on the final turn someone comes out on top for a satisfying win

I try not to be too picky with rules. If another player makes a mistake due to being unfamiliar with or misinterpreting a rule I tend to point it out.

Also whenever an opponent says "I forgot to move that unit before is it ok if I do it now?" I always respond with "That's totally cool by me dawg" rather than " I WILL MAKE YOU SUFFER FOR THAT MISTAKE new person!!!"

Another good thing is to taylor your list against your oponent. When playing vs an inexperienced player or someone with a weak list, I see it as an oportunity to try out fun and exotic units, rather than a chance for a stomp with a tournament style list.

"If a lot of players respect each other, the 40k community would be a better place to live"-Commander W'iseau

It's not true, it's bullsh*t I did not overheat, I did not! Oh Hi MARKerlight!